No Place For Love
by dancerox421
Summary: The world knows Cato as the ruthless career tribute, but can Katniss uncover another side to him or will he kill her before she gets the chance. Katniss/Cato
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I've been playing with the idea of a Katniss and Cato pairing and the more I think about it the more I like it. This will be very AU it won't really line up with the books just fair warning! Hope you like let me know what you think! Oh and I don't own anything! **

**Katniss POV:**

Numb. It is an all-consuming feeling, in fact it's the only feeling I've had since I took my sisters place. There was no way I would let her face this kind of fate. It was my job to protect her and that's exactly what I did. Now it was up to my mom and Gale, I wouldn't be there anymore to tuck her back in after the nightmares in fact I wouldn't be there for anything.

I know that I promised her that I would win but in reality I don't have a lot going for me. They are going to throw twenty-four of us going in that arena and only one of us is coming out. Some of the tributes have even been training their whole lives for this where I have just been trying to keep my family from starving.

The sound of Peeta's voice startles me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry what?"

"I said we're here." I get up from my seat and look out the window of the train. Sure enough we are shooting out of the tunnel. I'm astonished at the grandeur of the city that comes into view. The buildings stretch up into the sky and the shined in the afternoon sun.

We begin to pull into the station and are met with a screaming crowed. I back up from the glass and turn my face in disgust.

"Katniss come and wave to them. The best way to get sponsors is to make them like you."

"I'm not going to pretend like this is ok Mellark. I will get sponsors because I earn them not because I kissed their butts."

Glaring at the back of his head I watch as he cheerily waves to the people who salivate for our deaths. I refused to stoop to their level. Let him have the sponsors he would need them if he planned on surviving. The door slid open and guards appeared to walk us into our prison for the next week. Escape was not an option for me.

I make my face a mask as we pass the crowd. I would not seem weak to anyone. They make me sick not one of them look as if they even know what it's like to miss a meal. Mercifully the doors slam shut behind us effectively silencing their nauseating cheers. The guards left us to our mentors.

"Because you are from district twelve we will all be staying on the twelfth floor." Said Effie. She began to go on about useless things so I tuned her out.

Sometimes I wonder if there is anything useful under that pink wig of hers. Not likely.

The doors slide open and I can't control the gasp that leaves my lips. Our apartment is spectacular. They didn't waste any expense decorating the place. There are things that my family would never dream of seeing.

"Welcome to your home for the next few days. Anything you could ever dream of having is at your fingertips all you need do is ask. The capitol tries to compensate you for your great sacrifice."

I roll my eyes at her little speech. "Yes because dying is worth all this material crap." I say with a smile on my face.

Deciding to ignore me for now she continues. "Dinner will be in twenty minutes sharp so go to your rooms and get cleaned up. Peeta follow me and Haymitch show Katniss to hers."

"Come on." He slurs and starts off down a hall.

"So, when are you going to start working on a strategy with me?"

"Woah woah who said I was going to do anything of the sort." He stopped at what I assumed was my door.

"That's your job as past victor is to be our mentor. I'm not going down without a fight. I expect you will be sober and start doing your job. We need you."

Shock flashed across his face. Twelve's normal tribute is always half starved and has no idea what they were doing. If he expected that this year he was in for a surprise because I was going to give everything I had to make it back home to Prim. Just like I promised. With that said I walked in my room and shut the door in his face.

I walked into dinner feeling amazing after a hot shower, which was a first, and a clean set of clothes. The silky fabrics felt alien on me I was so used to the rough fabrics of home.

Finally I had to surrender I was so full I was scared that it would all come back up.

"Alright you two I promise that I will stop drinking and take this more seriously. But you two need to listen to everything I tell you to do. Don't question me just do as I say. Understood?"

"Yes." We both say at the same time.

As I lay in bed I finally let the emotion of the day out. I cry for my family, for Gale, and mostly for the life I will never have. After a few hours of this I just lay there and listen to the sounds around me. Soon however It feels as if the walls are closing in on me.

I jump out of bed and put on some stretchy cotton capris and a V-neck T-shirt. I pad barefoot through our apartment. I had to try to get out of this place. I creep out into our main room and look around. It seems as if everyone is asleep. The shadows in the room seem to hide things making my feet move faster towards the elevator. I push the button for it to come up. My panic increases and it seems to take hours for the elevator to come. The door dings and I look both ways and jump in. In my haste to hit the first floor button I hit the second floor button by mistake.

"Oh crap." My face drains of what little color was left. Hopefully no one will be awake. I hit the first floor button in hopes that I can get off that floor quickly.

The numbers count down and I now wish that I had just stayed in my room. Too soon for my liking the elevator begins to slow. Poising my hand over the door close button I wait for the doors to open to district twos apartment. I hear the loud ding and I flinch the doors slide open and I pray that no one is around especially one of the careers. Unfortunately for me luck has abandoned me completely today. The boy career tribute is standing up from the table. Clearly he was expecting it to be someone else because as soon as he sees me his face turns into one of hate.

He is huge and well built. Blonde he would be pretty if he wasn't now making his way over to me with a murderous look on his face. I panic and begin hitting the 'door close' button as fast as I can. I'm not fast enough because he sprints and slams his hand into the closing door so it opens. I squeak in surprise and try to put some distance between us.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

"N-n-nothing. I just hit the wrong button."

"Were you going to try something while we were still sleeping?" He shouts. He is way too big, I have nothing to defend myself and If it comes to a fight I'm dead before I even reach the arena.

I place my hands out in front of me," Hey I didn't mean to come here I wasn't after anyone. It was a mistake that's all."

He carefully looks me up and down trying to decide if I was a threat. "Get. Away. From. here. Don't let me catch you wandering around at night. Next time I won't be so merciful." With a smirk he backed out of the elevator. I couldn't look away from those eyes it's like I was trapped in them until the door took him away from my view. I slumped against the wall breathing hard. My heart felt like it was going to burst. So much for not looking weak I just gave him his first target. Lovely. Deciding that nothing good would come of continuing to wander I hit the twelve button again. Tomorrow was a big day anyways. Tomorrow training begins.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Still don't own anything! Let me know what you think about chapter one and two! Back to the story!**

_The forest is so dark I can see but a few feet in front of me. A high pitched scream breaks the silence. My heart drops. I know that voice. _

"_Prim!" I take off running in her direction._

"_Prim? Where are you?" I crash into a clearing bathed in moonlight. I see a little girl with blonde braides laying in the middle. I slowly walk up to her praying it wasn't my little sisters face I would see. _

_It is her. "Prim?" I notice a red stain spreading across her stomach. "No Prim!" I drop down next to her and place her across my lap. "Prim wake up please!" I beg. "Someone help me!" I scream out to the night, but no one replies. A shadow falls over me as I'm weeping. Standing over us is the boy from district two._

_Blood drips from a sword that he lazily holds. _

"_no.." I whisper._

"_Haha she made such an easy target." His face pulls into a full blown smile. His eyes turn black as he steps towards me. "And now you can join her."_

_He pulls back his sword and swings…_

"No!" I scream flying upright in my bed. Sweat covers my body and I pant trying to calm my heart. Tears leak out of my eyes. It looked so real, Prim lying there dead.

I jump as someone pounds on my door. "Big, big day! Up up!" Effie yells. I hear her footsteps moving down the hall.

I make my way into the bathroom and get ready for the first day of training. Stretchy pants and a gray cotton V-neck are laying out for me. I walk into the dining room to find that, to my distaste, Peeta is dressed similarly.

"Alright Katniss Peeta informed me that you can shoot. There will be a bow today but I don't want you messing with it. You don't want the other tributes knowing all your strengths. Focus on survival things that will keep you alive."

I make a noncommittal noise and continue to eat.

The elevator ride down to the training room was awkward to say the least.

"So, what do you think the other tributes will be like?" Peeta asks.

He is met with silence. I'm not in a talking mood and no matter what Haymitch says Peeta is my enemy. In the arena I know he wouldn't hesitate to kill me to make it home. I can't afford to get friendly with him.

The doors open to a huge area filled with all kinds of lethal looking objects, and the first thing I see is the boy tribute from two, who I found out is named Cato, decapitate a dummy and then plant his sword straight through its chest.

My mouth drops open and my heart stops for a second. His smirk brings me back to life. He crosses his arms and watches us walk in. Seeing him brings my dream back full force but this time instead of dread, anger fills me.

After hours of doing survival stations and learning nothing new my boredom starts to get the best of me.

I turn to Peeta. "Look I'm getting bored of this. I'm going to go check out the bows, I wont shoot I promise but I want to get a feel for their weight. Do not tell Haymitch." I give him my best intimidating look and walk away without waiting for a reply.

The second I get to the rack of bows I know that they are far superior to the one I have been using to hunt. I pick one up and test its weight. Its heavier than I'm used to and I know this will effect my shooting ability.

"Thank God I have time to practice." Without taking an arrow I move over to the dummies and practice pulling back the string and aiming.

Cato is a few down practicing throwing spears. Great mental image. He goes to pull his latest spear from the dummy when suddenly an arrow flies past me and only misses him by a few inches. I turn to see that fox faced girl panic and put a bow back and hide. I turn back around to see a red faced Cato turn in my direction. Of course I'm standing there with a bow and no arrow. Crap.

"I'm going to kill you!" He yells in rage and charges at me.

"I didn't shoot it!" I yell but I know he is beyond reason and the guards are across the room.

I take off running for the climbing course behind me. I make it to the ladder and start climbing, not before he grabs my ankle. I panic and kick him in the face which causes him to fall and lose his grip.

"You coward get down here!" Cato is in a rage he can't get up his weight on the twisting ladder dumps him back on the ground. Finally the guards get him. It takes three to move him.

"I will kill you so slowly you will beg for death!" He screams as they drag him away. Fantastic.

"You know you really shouldn't antagonize him" A small voice says from behind me. I turn to see the little girl from district eleven. "I'm Rue by the way."

"Katniss, and I didn't shoot at him it was the stupid red head. And now he will be after me not just for the games but revenge."

"Remind me not to be around you when he catches up to you." She says and smiles and I can't help but laugh because she reminds me so much of Prim.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey! I will try to put up a new chapter at least once a week so far so good! I still don't own anything! **

"_Winning won't really help me" Peeta murmured._

"_And why not?" Caesar asked outraged._

"_Because, she came with me."_

After that little performance I knew that if I didn't get away now I knew that I would kill my new "lover". Anger coursed through me. How could he throw me under the bus like that? I'm trying to come off as someone strong an actual contender in the games and now I looked soft, an easy target. Throwing on my workout clothes I took off at a jog out of my room.

"Katniss where are you going?" Haymitch grabbed my arm as I jogged past him. I ripped my arm from his grasp.

"Out of here, away from him." I ground out. "I need some time. I never agreed to this and now you two have come up with this elaborate plan. Where was my say in any of this huh? Did either of you think that maybe that wasn't the strategy that I wanted to go for?" With each sentence my voice got louder until I was red faced and screaming.

"No one wanted to sponsor you until he declared his undying love for you! Star-crossed lovers I can sell. Surly rule breaking brat I can't! You might as well jump in front of the first knife thrown at the rate you're going!" By this point we are both panting.

"I'll be in the training room practicing my shot." With that I turned on my heel and stepped into the elevator. The last thing I saw before the doors closed was Peetas heartbroken face as it transformed into anger. He really did love me and I just crushed him.

I walked into the training room picked up a bow and stood in front of the field of dummies. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened them and the face I pictured surprised me instead of Cato like I expected I saw Peeta. All the anger I felt about this afternoon came flying out. I shot arrow after arrow into the dummy all hitting major places on the body. Screaming in frustration when I ran out of arrows I threw my bow at it. Grabbing a sword from the wall next to me I scream as I start to hack at the dummy, but it's no longer just peeta, it's the people of the capitol I'm fighting. Letting out the frustrations of the life I've lost….the love I've lost.

I let the sword clatter to the ground and finally lose my anger to sadness and let the tears out. Sobs racked my body to the point of pain. The reality that my life was almost over finally hit me. Knowing that even if what Peeta just did wasn't an act that there was no chance for it to go anywhere. Eventually I would kill him or be dead. I close my eyes and remember my mother and father dancing in front of the fire in our house. They thought we were asleep but I laid there and watched them. His eyes held so much love for her that it made my eyes water. It was crushing knowing that no one would ever look at me like that.

"Haha oh, oh this is rich. Has Kitty cat finally lost it?" I jump surprised to find Cato standing behind me.

"Oh oh oh let me guess the dummy? Was it me, too bad it would never be that easy!" He said in a baby voice with a malicious smile on his face. The sadness in me was rapidly being replaced by fury.

"It's such a shame that you guys are in love. It will make killing the two of you so much more enjoyable." Pretending to think for a second he goes on."Hmmmm maybe I'll even save the two of you for last, give the audience a spectacular show." He slowly makes his way closer and turns his voice mocking. "Oh Peeta I love you so much. I've always loved you and now we shall never know. This is goodbye how about one last smooch." After making kissing noises he starts laughing. "What a joke!"

Sometimes when I get past furious another personality takes over. I call her the "Katinator" when she takes control I'm not exactly responsible for what I do. Well she officially had control.

Screaming in rage I fly at his and tackle him to the ground. Surprise was definitely on my side. I got in a few fantastic punches before it really hit him what was happening. I was straddled on his chest hitting him when suddenly I found myself on bottom.

He grabbed my arms and pinned them above my head. We are both panting from the fight. His face is bright red from anger and I can tell he is fighting for control. I am officially me and officially terrified. The Katinator left me with one heck of a mess this time.

"I-I am so.." I start to squeak out.

"Shut. Up." His eyes are still crazed.

"I-I d-don't kno.."

"I said shut up!" He screamed.

Shutting my mouth with a snap I watched him attempt to calm himself. With each passing second I became more and more aware of the fact that he was on top of me.

Finally the crazed look drained away from his eyes. Slowly he leaned down to my ear and whispered," The only thing keeping me from killing you creatively right now is the fact that I want your little boyfriend to watch kitty cat. It will happen in the arena and when you are close to death, I will make you watch me kill him then I will finish him off. The perfect ending to the games little star-crossed lovers." A shiver of dread tingled down my spine and settled in my stomach. The way he said it I knew that he was telling the truth. He would come for me and he wouldn't show me any kind of mercy. He felt nothing when it came to killing. I was just a bump on his road to glory, but now I had made this a pride thing. Now he would make sure I suffered.

He released my wrists and halfway sat up. Gently he wiped a tear from my face.

"Sleep well little one, I will see you in the arena tomorrow." Smiling he got up and walked out of the training room leaving me stunned on the floor. There was no way in hell I was getting any sleep tonight.

**A/N: Thank you so much to these readers who left reviews! You guys make all the difference to keeping the fire under me to write! Twilightfanatic098,** **PrincessOfShelbytopia** ,**DreamiGirl, Artemis huntress44,** **munroxochika , TequilaShine, 98nomes, micmic022….You guys are amazing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Hey! Sorry I know this took a while but my great aunt passed away and I needed a little time. I would rather put out quality stuff then rush and give you crummy work. Also I want the relationship between Cato and Katniss to be really natural, they aren't going to just love each other. Have faith they will be together! Enjoy and don't forget to review!

The wind gently plays with my hair as I scan the arena. _Back straight Katniss everyone is watching. _I make sure my face looks determined and fierce. They would not get the joy of seeing me tremble.

I gaze around at my competition. The expressions range from savage glee to all out terror. I'm sure I look more confident then I actually am.

Finally I scan the pile. My heart picks up double time. Not twenty feet from me sits a bow and a quiver of arrows.

It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It's mine I won't give it up without a fight. It's my ticket home.

I glance over at Peeta and I'm surprised at his expression. His face screams boredom. I expected anything but that.

_Why isn't he terrified? _

I finally notice another advantage for me. The Arena is forest except for the lake we now stand by.

A smile graces my face for the first time since the reaping. I could actually do this. I could go home.

With a new feeling of determination coursing through my veins I watch as the countdown begins.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

I close my eyes and picture the ones I love. Prim, Mom, Gale.

2

I slowly open my eyes and get caught in the gaze of none other than Cato. For some reason I'm trapped

in his Icy gaze. His eyes hold an emotion that I can't name. I tilt my head to the side as I puzzle over it.

1

I jump when everyone takes off running. I missed it!

I take off running. I push my legs as fast as they will go. Getting to that bow is the one thing that determines my survival.

I leap over one tribute that's already down from a knife. Clove is already on the hunt and claiming victims. I push myself harder knowing that if she had knives then I was a sitting duck. I glance around for her suddenly scared I was already on her radar. Giving up I keep running towards my goal.

My heart drops. My bow is gone.

I franticly look around for it knowing I am running out of time before someone decides to take me out.

Screams fill the air as the careers get to work on the lesser tributes that are unfortunate enough to get in their path.

Finally I spot my bow in the hands of ….Peeta? He catches my eye and gives me a smile but not the one I expected from him. This smile was malicious…like he had won.

I realized …he did. He was going to cripple me in the arena and he knew it.

My time is gone. I grab the closest backpack to me and start backing towards the trees.

Clove walks up next to him and smiles at me.

I take off running into the forest.

I run until I can't feel my legs anymore and even then I try to push past it.

I finally collapse at the base of a tree. I jump up and start climbing knowing that the ground would be deadly at night. All I can do is place one hand in front of the other. I can't focus on how I feel. Finally I reach a branch that seems high enough and collapse. Running my hands over my face I glance down in shock when they come away went.

I had been crying and didn't even realize it.

Finally it hits me.

I had come to depend on Peeta even though I never admitted it. I assumed he would be there for me and now he was one of the careers. Worse he took away the one thing he knew I depended on.

His betrayal stings. The boy who saved me became the boy who wants me dead. All this because I broke his heart. Tying myself into the tree I close my eyes.

That night I dream about the little boy who gave me bread.

**A/n: **I hope you guys liked it. Yes I've decided to go with a mean Peeta hope no one is too distraught over it. Please review even if it's just encouragement to keep going it really means a ton! Thank you to everyone who did review! You're all amazing!


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